Philadelphia 76ers: Sixers get a late game push to defeat Raptors

Philadelphia 76ers' Nick Young reacts to a score during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Toronto Raptors, Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012, in Philadelphia. Philadelphia won 106-98. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA — It’s seemed like Doug Collins has preferred Nick Young off the bench from the moment the 76ers got him. With the way Young has been scoring, it’d be difficult to keep him out of the starting lineup much longer.

Young went off for a team-best 23 points, converting a pair of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help the Sixers fend off the Toronto Raptors, 106-98, Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center despite being outrebounded yet again.

The Raptors owned the Sixers on the glass, though a 48-41 differential might not show it. How desperate did the Sixers get? Dorell Wright, a hot shooter who’s seemingly been in Doug Collins’ doghouse for the last half-week, played a bulk of the fourth quarter because they needed his rebounding.

Whatever. The plan worked and the Sixers were able to win a game for the first time — in five tries — this season after trailing heading into the fourth quarter.

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The momentum started to turn in the Sixers’ favor with 6:33 to go, when Young knocked down an attempt on which he probably didn’t even see the basket.

Young, the frenetic scorer who’s never met a shot he doesn’t like, kept alive a Sixers possession by grabbing an offensive board. Then, after taking a look, he dribbled into the lane and tossed up a right-handed scoop shot for two. It trimmed the Sixers’ deficit to 87-84 heading into a timeout.

From then on, the Sixers kept it to within three points — until Young knocked down another 3-pointer. This one, from the right wing, evened things at 92-92. On the Sixers’ next possession, following a Toronto miss, Holiday fed a bounce pass into the paint, to Thad Young, for an easy conversion and their first lead, 94-92, since the opening minutes of the third quarter.

The Raptors helped dig the Sixers a first-quarter hole with an 18-8 run out the chute.

Toronto, one of the league’s top-scoring teams in the opening 12 minutes, ran up the score on 6-for-8 shooting. The Sixers couldn’t keep up, missing all but three of their first 11 attempts.

Slowly chipping at Toronto’s lead, the Sixers cut a 10-point deficit to zero by halftime.

Jason Richardson knocked down a transition 3-pointer to make It a 43-42 game, but the Raptors’ Jose Calderon responded with a layup on the ensuing possession. Richardson was at it again with a right-handed layup to again trim Toronto’s lead to one.

The Sixers finally had their first lead of the game off a bucket out of a timeout, with one minute remaining in the second quarter. Jrue Holiday scooted through the lane, past the Raptors’ Andrea Bargnani, for a left-handed layin to give the Sixers a 48-46 edge. After a Toronto bucket, and another from Holiday, Calderon drilled a 3-pointer prior to the buzzer sounded.

His trey countered Holiday’s and sent the teams to the locker rooms deadlocked at 51-51.

As both teams teeter-tottered their way through the third quarter, trading leads and jabs, the Sixers took a scare with 5:33 to go.

Vying for a loose ball in the paint, Richardson dove to save possession for the Sixers. While he didn’t find the ball, his face found the underside of Kyle Lowry’s sneaker. Lowry, the Villanova product, inadvertently stepped on Richardson and sent him to the bench for the rest of the quarter. Lowry, himself, was playing his first game in the last seven, having recovered from a right foot bruise.

Evan Turner converted a 10-footer along the baseline with less than two ticks to go to cut Toronto’s lead after three quarters to 80-73.

Wright nailed a triple in the first minute of the fourth to keep the Sixers within four points, at 82-78.

Then Doug Collins picked up a technical foul, for what was uncertain. Richardson returned with 9:34 to go, after sustaining that head contusion a quarter earlier, but he didn’t contribute much. And it didn’t look good — until Nick Young turned things up.

Richardson even got a taste of just desserts when, on a driving layup that became a 3-point play, he stepped on the abdomen of Toronto’s Amir Johnson. The Sixers went ahead, 99-96, and never looked back. Lowry missed a pair of free throws at the other and Richardson, on the ensuing trip up the floor, converted another long-distance shot to complete the rally.